The Portland daily press., 1887-06-15
A BREAK IN WHEAT.
Sharp Decline In Prices In the New
York Market.
a Panic in Chicago and the oper-
ators Demoralised.
Exciting Scenes Which VIII Be Long
Remembered.

NEW YORK, June 14.-As a result Of heavy
decline at the West, the local wheat market
suffered a bad break. and during the period
under review there was considerable excite
ment on the pressure to sell. Early months
are the weakest. June and July were down
fully 2 to q cents. and later deliveries show
loss Of II to u cents. The speculative deal
ings were the largest for some time up to the
hour Of writing, with most interest centered
in July, August, September and December
deliveries. Heavy receipts at the West was
one bear influence, besides there was to be a
meeting of the Board of Trade directors in
Chicago, relative to declaring certain ware
houses good receptacleS for grain now on
track. 1t Is also rumored that the recent
''clique" is broken.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, June 14.-The sudden
drop in wheat in all the grain centres caused
intense excitement on Change. Three fail
ures are announced. VIZ; Frank Wilson, Jo-
seph Wilde and Hill. Fleitscheim & Co., the
latter being the Milwaukee branch Of G. j..
Kershaw & Co. Of Chicago. Hooker, Crit
tenden & Co. closed out all their trades.
Their failure depends on the ability Of the
Kershaw crowd to meet their obligations.
A Panic In Chicago.
CHICAGO, June 14.-There was a panic in
the wheat pit on the Board Of Trade this af-
ternoon. The great wheat clique was utterly
demorallzed owing to today's sensational
drop In prices. Rosenfeld Il Cos failure
was announced on the board. At 12.50P. NJ.
wheat declined for June from 90 cents to 70
cents, decline of II cents per bushel.
At the first offering Of July wheat this
morning there were no takers. 1t was Of
Tered under supposed market but still
there were no takers. The fears that took
again made them quake. The uproar grew
intense in the wild effort to sell wheat July
dropped from 63f cents to SO cents while men
were thinking what to do. Every one wanted
to unload but no one wanted wheat. In less
time than 1t takes to tell the story July
wheat was offered at 500 cents, or three cents
less than the closing price of yesterday 1t
was short storm but terrible in its effect on
the crowd. Traders crawled out Of the Dit,
dripping with perspiration and weak from
excitement. There was talk Of fail
ures, put none were announced to
Then for an hour there was slight rally,
and the leading feature (July) sold up TO S11
cents. This was but lull in the storm. At
ii O'Clock a. m. the indicator for July
showed that 1t was again selling down, at
70 cents, 81 cents below the opening an
hour before. Then came a third tumble at
the noon hour, and July wheat sold down to
7o3 cents, or u cents below the opening
price, The entire board was little less
than pandemonium. Rumors reached here
that there was run on the bank in Cincin-
natl, where the headquarters of the ''longs"
IS supposed to be situated. Margins were
freely called and heavy deposits demanded
Chicago banks, 1t was said, refused to ad-
vance any more money on wheat. Late in
the session it was stated the checks of some
rna aFf1n fnf fad an hn ell IL A,1
been refused At 1890 o'clock came the
startling announcement that all persons
having trades with Rosenfeld Il Co., one
of clique of houses. should close them
at once. The uproar had not subsidized when
the July wheat took fourth and worst turn
OF the day, dropping for moment to IA
cents and closed the morning session at 744
Trouble was expected on margins at Ker-
shaw and the crowd was ready for anything
short OF an earthquake. ThrOngs of people
rushed in from the streets and the gallery
was hlled with an excited thrOng Of men and
women. 1t was morning session to be re-
membered as long as wheat grows. lntermis-
sion at O'Clock gave the members a chance
to catch breath and when the afternoon ses-
sion was called Che excitement had some
what abated. AT 2 o'clock it was officially
announced that E. w. Bailey & Co., and
Hammill Il Brine requested all parties hav-
ing trades with them to close them out at
once. The instant the announcement was
made July wheat dropped to 73t but soon re-
covered to "a. Five minutes later Secretary
Stone raped the tumultuous crowd to order
and read the following from the leading
clique house Of &. j. Kershaw & Co.:
We have assurance that margins and and am
Dle funds Will be forthcoming by tomorrow morn
ing, and request that no trades be closed out.
This announcement was received with
cheers. In a few minutes July wheat was
selling at 70 1-3. The lowest figure touched
bV JulV wheat durinp the dav was 101 oanto
under yesterdays close. Although the chief
excitement Of the day was in July, yet June
wheat sold with the widest fluctuations,
from 92 down to 80, up to 91 and then by
jumps down to "a, when the slight reaction
occurred. The lowest figure touched by June
was about 80 cents under yesterdays clos
ing price. June closed at TAI, ceferring fH-
lures declined less sharply, but during the
morning dropped about 81 for August and
September.